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A landlord from Church Crookham, Richard Fuller, 53, has been jailed for more than two years after he failed to declare capital gains on the sale of properties in the Aldershot area.

Fuller, of Bowenhurst Road, avoided paying £157,725 in Capital Gains Tax by failing to declare capital gains from the sale of his rental properties. He was given a prison sentence of two years and three months.

Fuller was arrested at Gatwick Airport in October 2014 after returning from holiday in Turkey. This followed an investigation by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) which revealed that between 2006 and 2013, he did not declare capital gains made from selling properties in the Aldershot area.

In court Fuller was found guilty of two counts of cheating the public revenue and three counts of fraud by false representation on July 14 (2017), and was jailed at Winchester Crown Court on Friday (August 11).

Sentencing Fuller, Judge Andrew Barnett said:

“The jury found you guilty of dishonesty. This is a serious matter, you deliberately failed to pay your capital gains tax over several years.”

The evasion was uncovered as part of HMRC’s crackdown on property tax evasion, the property taskforce campaign, and was subsequently referred for criminal investigation. Following the sentencing, confiscation will be sought to recover the proceeds of Fuller’s crimes.

Assistant director of the Fraud Investigation Service at HMRC, Richard Wilkinson, had said:

“Fuller thought he was above the law and decided not to declare or pay the tax due from the sale of some of his property portfolio.

“It is simply not acceptable to steal from UK taxpayers.

“HMRC will continue to pursue those who attempt to hide their gains on assets, their income, and investigate those who attack the tax system.”

Airbnb is fast becoming the preferred method of accommodation amongst leisure and business travellers. For Airbnb hosts it can be an easy way of making some extra cash.

However, recently there have been a number of cases where properties have been damaged by guests, sublet by tenants, people being injured at Airbnb properties and hosts left with a lot of clearing up to do.

Nicole Rogers from DAS Law answers the most important questions for existing Airbnb hosts and those thinking of renting out their properties.

Could sharing your rented or leasehold property with Airbnb cost you your tenancy or home?

Millions of Airbnb users may have unknowingly breached the terms of their leases, leaving them vulnerable to legal action or losing their tenancy.

The vast majority of tenancy and leasehold agreements are likely to state that the property in question may only be used as a private residence. This would prevent tenants from renting out or ‘sharing’ their flat or home for short periods. It should be considered by anyone letting their property out through Airbnb to check their tenancy or leasehold agreements first.

It is not just those renting that should be wary of breaking contracts, mortgage companies may also take a dim view of home owners offering short term lettings of their property. It would be wise for owners to contact their mortgage company before offering their home out, as they may very well be breaking their mortgage contract. Whilst buy-to-let mortgages allow for assured short term tenancy, ‘short-term’ is often defined as 6 months; clearly Airbnb stays are considerably shorter than this.

What precautions do you need to take to comply with health and safety legislation?

Hosts must ensure that the premises are reasonably safe for visitors. With regards to fire safety, landlords should inform visitors of a fire evacuation route. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes landlords responsible for taking steps to protect the people using your premises from the risk of fire. This means that a host should carry out a fire risk assessment, if necessary, improve the fire safety measures and keep the risks, and fire safety measures, under review.

If a visitor has suffered an injury at a host’s premises, he/she may seek to pursue a personal injury claim, particularly if the host has breached its duty of care to the visitor, which subsequently has caused foreseeable injury.

If your property or belongings are damaged or stolen, will your home and contents policy cover you?

It is unlikely as the insurer will usually not have catered for paying guests when arranging the policy. The host would need to clarify with their insurer as to whether their cover would be sufficient to cover losses. Airbnb do offer a ‘host guarantee’ whereby the firm promises to reimburse hosts for damages of up to £600,000, the company adds that hosts should not consider this as a replacement for owners or renters home insurance.

Whilst a host is not required to take out specific landlord insurance, it would be advisable to speak with a specialist broker or insurer to ensure sufficient protection.

What are the tax implications for the income you receive?

Money received from hosting is generally regarded as income; therefore, it is likely that income tax will be payable so the host may need to declare their earnings to HMRC. It is possible that a host may be entitled to certain tax reliefs or allowances, so it is advisable to take tax advice regarding this.

As an Airbnb host, do you need to have public liability insurance?

There is no legal obligation to take out public liability insurance to host via Airbnb. However, it would be worthwhile to do so in order to protect yourself, the host in the event of an injury claim from the visitor.

The Residential Landlords Association (RLA) have today called for credit referencing agencies, such as Experian and Equifax, to include rental payment history when calculating the credit rating of tenants.

This would seem only fair when the penalty for landlords and home owners for even one month of missed mortgage payment can be so severe when applying for a new loan or mortgage.

However, the practicalities of this are very difficult, because a tenancy agreement is not considered a consumer loan meaning there is currently no authority to collect this information, who would collect it and how can you be sure it is accurate.

The RLA conducted a survey of 3000 Landlords showing 61% would be in favour of rental payments being included in a credit score. This would obviously assist landlords for any reference assessment in taking on a new tenant.

Therefore the RLA is writing to the government requesting cooperation with the industry to consider how rental payment history could be included when calculating credit scores.

Alan Ward, RLA’s Chairman, said: “With many tenants wanting to buy a house of their own, it is absurd rent payment is not routinely included when undertaking credit checks for mortgage applications.

“Moving to such a scheme would help not just tenants, but also landlords by giving them a clearer sense of whether a prospective tenant has historically paid their rent in full and on time.”

Experian themselves have recently suggested a similar idea so watch this space although, government appetite for anything that may help landlords or in anyway disadvantage renters from getting on the property ladder will be low while chasing popular opinion in a hung Parliament.

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lebernonline.co.uk is is owned and operated by LeBern Limited, a company registered in England and Wales under registration number 08643205.We provide services to facilitate the advertising and leasing of property by private landlords and related services. Please note that we do not provide, own or lease any property ourselves and we do not act for any other lettings or real estate agency.